Training and Research Opportunities in the CDC Streptococcus Laboratory

Opportunities exist in many exciting areas concerning the molecular epidemiology and biology of pathogenic streptococci and pneumococci. See below for a variety of fellowships organized by CDC, the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), the American Society of Microbiology (ASM), and others. Contact StrepLab@cdc.gov for information concerning research and training in this laboratory.

CDC Fellowships and Opportunities

  • CDC’s Laboratory Leadership Service (LLS) fellowship program prepares early-career laboratory scientists to become future public health laboratory leaders. Through on-the-job service at CDC and other public health laboratories, fellows acquire and apply skills in laboratory quality management, the science of biosafety, and leadership.
  • At CDC’s Streptococcus Laboratory, training in streptococcal and pneumococcal serology, antibiotic susceptibility testing, and DNA sequence-based strain surveillance is available to individuals from laboratories with a demonstrated need. Scientists with externally provided salaries are welcome to inquire concerning research and training projects in this laboratory. This laboratory has a history of several successful collaborations of this nature. Often researchers bring their own clinical isolate collections for study in CDC’s laboratory in order to answer questions concerning strain features and to simultaneously receive hands-on training. Contact StrepLab@cdc.gov for information concerning research and training in this laboratory.
  • There are many diverse fellowship, internship, training, and volunteer opportunities at CDC for students and professionals. Many of these opportunities provide invaluable experience and potentially offer clear cut paths to exciting careers with CDC.

APHL-CDC Fellowships

APHL and CDC offer several experiential laboratory fellowship programs to prepare scientists for an impact career in public health laboratories.

  • The Infectious Diseases (EID) Laboratory Fellowship Program, sponsored by APHL and CDC, trains and prepares scientists for careers in public health laboratories and supports public health initiatives related to infectious disease research. The program is a one-year full-time working fellowship for master’s-degree level scientists. Fellows are placed in state, local, and federal (CDC) public health laboratories throughout the United States to receive training in bench-level laboratory skills and methods, and assist with high-priority infectious disease testing, surveillance, and control measures.
  • The APHL-CDC Bioinformatics Fellowship aims to train and prepare bioinformaticians to apply their expertise within public health and design tools to aid existing public health personnel in the use of bioinformatics. The one-year full-time working fellowship provides post-master’s and post-doctoral level professionals the opportunity to apply their skills to a range of important and emerging public health problems, while gaining experience in their fields. Fellows are placed in state, local and federal (CDC) public health laboratories throughout the United States and collaborate on a wide range of important and emerging public health problems. Fellows collaborate with public health laboratorians, epidemiologists, and other subject matter experts to synthesize and correlate data into actionable public health information as part of ongoing Advanced Molecular Detection (AMD) projects.
  • The APHL-CDC Antimicrobial Resistance (AR) Fellowship Program provides scientists with the opportunity to collaborate on a range of antimicrobial resistance issues. The fellowship’s mission is to introduce scientists to public health laboratory science while building the workforce needed to detect and respond to existing and emerging forms of AR. The AR Fellowship is a full-time working fellowship program for master’s- and doctoral-degree level scientists. Fellows will be placed in one of seven public health laboratories for a 12-month term.

Other Opportunities

  • Fellowships in Research and Science Teaching (FIRST) provides postdoctoral fellows with both research support and training in teaching methods. FIRST combines the faculties of one of the top national research universities and four of the top national minority-serving institutions in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Over the three years of the fellowship, the research post-doctoral experience is complemented and integrated with a teaching program, which moves from a How to Teach course, to classroom technologies, mentorship of undergraduates, classroom teaching experience, and course development.